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WikiLeaks says it has obtained 2.4 million emails from Syria

washingtonpost.com

41–48 of 48 posts

Re: WikiLeaks says it has obtained 2.4 million emails from Syria

#41
post #3

Since these kinds of leaks are very difficult to authenticate, there is an opportunity for intelligence agencies to game WikiLeaks by (slightly) altering stolen documents. I'd take everything in these documents with a huge grain of salt.

Or, the far simpler and more plausible explanation: We live in a world with a massive amount of networked, easily accessible data. Combine that with terrible security and controls, and leaving the final responsibility of data remaining "safe" to the end user (often times just an anonymous cog in the corporate machine) and we have the perfect mix of problems to result in non-public information being "leaked" to the ou…

Your third paragraph is also a pretty accurate summary of the discovery process in complex litigation.

Although much is made of the high-tech data mining services available to assist with discovery, having used some of them I sometimes wonder if it isn't cheaper and more effective to throw low-cost labour at the problem. Enter law students.

Re: WikiLeaks says it has obtained 2.4 million emails from Syria

#42
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They already released US state secrets and he's been under house arrest for over 500 days without charges.

>he's been under house arrest for over 500 days without charges I feel this is somewhat disingenuous. He's been under house arrest pending extradition hearings because the UK received an arrest warrant for him from Sweden. EDIT: And while it's technically true that charges haven't been formally filed yet, it's my understanding that this is due to a peculiarity in Swedish law where they have to have a person physicall…

That's not accurate. They have said they want to interview him before charging him, and they've refused to do the interview in the UK or remotely, instead insisting that he be on Swedish soil.

The whole thing's a fucking scam so that the US can snag him without a fuss and then disappear him into their network of black sites.

Re: WikiLeaks says it has obtained 2.4 million emails from Syria

#43
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a tonal accent, which is not conveyed in writing. I believe there are some regional variations of it, too. In Japanese, it's related to something called the "accent nucleus." Googling that will give you a lot of random scholarly articles. Oddly enough the best simple explanation I could find was this: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100122132557AA...

So not only does hiragana need spaces, but it also needs accents?

Sort of. You're forgetting katakana, though. And there's still ambiguity, but live speakers know how to avoid it... usually.

There's just so much nuance they convey that the language would be less expressive without kanji. Even if they are a pain in the rear to study.

Re: WikiLeaks says it has obtained 2.4 million emails from Syria

#44
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>he's been under house arrest for over 500 days without charges I feel this is somewhat disingenuous. He's been under house arrest pending extradition hearings because the UK received an arrest warrant for him from Sweden. EDIT: And while it's technically true that charges haven't been formally filed yet, it's my understanding that this is due to a peculiarity in Swedish law where they have to have a person physicall…

That's not accurate. They have said they want to interview him before charging him, and they've refused to do the interview in the UK or remotely, instead insisting that he be on Swedish soil. The whole thing's a fucking scam so that the US can snag him without a fuss and then disappear him into their network of black sites.

>They have said they want to interview him before charging him, and they've refused to do the interview in the UK or remotely, instead insisting that he be on Swedish soil.

He's already fled the country once ahead of questioning. It isn't unreasonable to want to have him physically present if the questioning is going to result in an arrest. Hence the warrant.

Re: WikiLeaks says it has obtained 2.4 million emails from Syria

#45
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So not only does hiragana need spaces, but it also needs accents?

Sort of. You're forgetting katakana, though. And there's still ambiguity, but live speakers know how to avoid it... usually. There's just so much nuance they convey that the language would be less expressive without kanji. Even if they are a pain in the rear to study.

You're forgetting katakana, though.

Yeah... about that. Do you really need two different phonetic alphabets? I mean, c'mon! Give a lazy gaijin a break!

Re: WikiLeaks says it has obtained 2.4 million emails from Syria

#46
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not accurate. They have said they want to interview him before charging him, and they've refused to do the interview in the UK or remotely, instead insisting that he be on Swedish soil. The whole thing's a fucking scam so that the US can snag him without a fuss and then disappear him into their network of black sites.

>They have said they want to interview him before charging him, and they've refused to do the interview in the UK or remotely, instead insisting that he be on Swedish soil. He's already fled the country once ahead of questioning. It isn't unreasonable to want to have him physically present if the questioning is going to result in an arrest. Hence the warrant.

He was given explicit permission from the prosecutor to leave. He was travelling regularly on that time and went to a scheduled event for the release of documents.

Re: WikiLeaks says it has obtained 2.4 million emails from Syria

#47
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sort of. You're forgetting katakana, though. And there's still ambiguity, but live speakers know how to avoid it... usually. There's just so much nuance they convey that the language would be less expressive without kanji. Even if they are a pain in the rear to study.

You're forgetting katakana, though. Yeah... about that. Do you really need two different phonetic alphabets? I mean, c'mon! Give a lazy gaijin a break!

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090420033449AA...

"Katakana are not used only for foreign words. Katakana are also used with onomatopoeia, newly coined words, names when you don't know the kanji, and more.

Furthermore, katakana can be used to vary the style in writing. It is not uncommon to see an entire sentence in nothing but katakana, often to express a certain emotion (even when it lacks foreign words altogether). In other words, ヲ is actually used once in a while.

In addition, in ancient times, katakana were considered the proper way to write the language, while hiragana were considered sloppy and vulgar. In this respect, katakana can be used to evoke an archaic style. "

Re: WikiLeaks says it has obtained 2.4 million emails from Syria

#48
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're forgetting katakana, though. Yeah... about that. Do you really need two different phonetic alphabets? I mean, c'mon! Give a lazy gaijin a break!

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090420033449AA... "Katakana are not used only for foreign words. Katakana are also used with onomatopoeia, newly coined words, names when you don't know the kanji, and more. Furthermore, katakana can be used to vary the style in writing. It is not uncommon to see an entire sentence in nothing but katakana, often to express a certain emotion (even when it lacks foreign wor…

Not to dispute your (very credible) assertion that it's more suitable for common use than hiragana, can katakana express more tonal subtlety than hiragana? Are there words for which it would be preferable to use hiragana for legibility reasons? Are both used together in compliment to express an even wider range of verbal tones?
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